Department for Work and Pensions

Office for Nuclear Regulation: Corporate Plan 2023/2024

Laura Trott: Later today I will lay before this House the Office for Nuclear Regulation Corporate Plan 2023/2024. This document will also be published on the ONR website.I can confirm, in accordance with Schedule 7, Section 25(3) of the Energy Act 2013, that there have been no exclusions to the published documents on the grounds of national security.

Treasury

Energy tax update

Gareth Davies: The Government introduced the Energy (Oil and Gas) Profits Levy (EPL) in May 2022 to tax the temporary extraordinary profits of oil and gas companies, and to help fund vital support for millions of people facing rising bills, including the Energy Price Guarantee and additional support for those most in need. With this levy in place, the UK has a tax rate of 75% on profits from oil and gas production, which is expected to raise around £50 billion between 2022/23 and 2027/28. This is one of the highest tax rates for oil and gas production globally.While ensuring that oil and gas companies pay their fair share, it is also important that the Government supports jobs, supply chains and the country’s energy security. A faster decline in domestic production would mean importing more oil and gas - at greater expense and potentially resulting in additional emissions. This is why today, the Government will give operators and lenders the confidence they need to keep investing in the UK’s domestic energy reserves, whilst being clear that while prices remain high, the government will continue to tax extraordinary profits.Through the introduction of an Energy Security Investment Mechanism, the Government will ensure that the EPL is disapplied if oil and gas prices fall to historically normal levels for a sustained period. The Energy Security Investment Mechanism will only be activated when prices consistently meet or fall below a level typically associated with pre-crisis household energy bills. The mechanism will use a 20-year historic average to the end of 2022 so that it is set at $71.40 per barrel of oil and £0.54 per therm of gas. Government will require average prices to meet or fall below the level of both price thresholds for two successive quarters before disapplying the EPL and will set out further details on how this will work in due course. This mechanism is not expected to impact receipts from the Energy Profits Levy, based on current market forecasts.In the 2022 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced a review into the long-term fiscal regime for North Sea oil and gas to ensure the regime delivers predictability and certainty, supporting investment, jobs and the country’s energy security. The Government has published Terms of Reference for this review, setting out its scope and objectives. The review will focus on how the fiscal regime can support the country’s energy security while also realising our net-zero commitments in the medium and long term.In addition, the review will explore how the fiscal regime should respond to any future price shocks, ensuring the country retains a fair return in exchange for the use of its resources in a high-price environment.The full terms of reference can be found on the GOV.UK website:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-the-oil-and-gas-fiscal-regime-terms-of-reference

HM Revenue and Customs Update

Victoria Atkins: The government intends to extend the deadline for eligible individuals to retrospectively fill gaps in their National Insurance record for the period covering April 2006 to April 2016. The current 31 July 2023 deadline will be extended to 5 April 2025. This extension will also apply to contributions relating to all years which would reach their payment deadline before 5 April 2025, including tax years 2016 to 2017 and 2017 to 2018. All relevant voluntary National Insurance contributions (NICs) payments will be accepted at the rates applicable in 2022 to 2023 until 5 April 2025.  This extension means that people will have more time to fill gaps in their National Insurance record that may increase the amount they receive in State Pension. Furthermore, HMRC and DWP are taking the opportunity through the extension period to make improvements to the digital service, with the intention that ultimately the majority of customers should be able to complete the process online. Further announcements will follow in due course.

Northern Ireland Office

Update on the Omagh Bombing Inquiry

Chris Heaton-Harris: On 2 February, I announced that I would establish an independent statutory inquiry into the preventability of the Omagh Bombing, the Real IRA-perpetrated atrocity in August 1998 which killed 29 people and two unborn children, and injured 220 others. The responsibility for this appalling crime lies with the murderers and those that assisted them. It is important that all lessons are learned and confidence in this is given to the families of those affected.The Inquiry will be established under the Inquiries Act 2005, with full powers, including the power to compel the production of documents and to summon witnesses to give evidence on oath.Since that announcement in February, my department has been steadily progressing the establishment of the Inquiry, with a key priority being to identify a suitable Chair.After careful consideration, I am today announcing the appointment of Lord Alan Turnbull as Chair of the Omagh Bombing Inquiry. Lord Turnbull has had a distinguished judicial career in Scotland. He was the lead prosecutor in the Lockerbie bombing case in 1998, and in 2006 was appointed a Senator of the College of Justice, and a judge of the Court of Session and High Court of Justiciary (the Supreme Courts of Scotland).Lord Turnbull’s appointment to the role of Chair of the Omagh Bombing Inquiry follows a recommendation made by the Lord Chief Justice for England and Wales, in conjunction with his counterparts across the rest of the UK. Lord Turnbull’s long-standing judicial career and his previous experience of working on terrorism cases will provide the highest levels of knowledge and professionalism. I have no doubt that Lord Turnbull will bring to the Inquiry the required rigour, independence, and impartiality, and I am grateful to him for accepting this important job.I will now work with Lord Turnbull to agree the Terms of Reference for the Inquiry. I will update the House further once the Terms of Reference have been agreed.

Home Office

Publication of the Safe Care at Home Review

Miss Sarah Dines: My hon Friend the Minister of State for Social Care (Helen Whately) and I are pleased to announce that the government has today published the Safe Care at Home Review, which has been jointly led by the Home Office and the Department of Health and Social Care. Millions of adults receive excellent support in their own homes from paid, unpaid and voluntary carers. We know this is greatly valued, helping people with practical day-to-day tasks to live more independent and fulfilling lives. However, we were concerned by the evidence presented by peers and the disability sector during the passage of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 about existing measures to protect and support people who are abused by people who are providing their care. We undertook this review as a direct response to this evidence. In this review we spoke to a wide range of stakeholders including representatives from the Deaf community, older people’s and disability organisations, people providing care, health and housing professionals, local authorities, social work professionals, the police, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and other government departments. We would like to take this opportunity to thank those who provided evidence for this review and especially people who shared their personal and often harrowing stories. This report includes a clear set of actions for this government to take forward. We will continue to build on existing efforts to support and protect people in need and deliver quality services to victims and survivors of abuse. We will also redouble efforts to improve our understanding of this horrific form of hidden abuse. The review found this type of abuse can be far-reaching, and in certain cases has grave consequences. We remain committed to making sure people with care and support needs receive high quality and safe care in their own homes, and do not suffer from abuse or neglect by people providing that care. These commitments go hand in hand with the government’s wider work to improve adult social care, which includes a historic funding uplift over the next two years and the suite of reforms set out in the Next steps to put People at the Heart of Care plan. In particular, the plan acknowledges the importance of investing in and supporting unpaid carers; improving recruitment and retention of paid carers; and ensuring the new Care Quality Commission Local Authority assessment framework includes monitoring the implementation of safeguarding duties from the Care Act 2014. The evidence and action plan proposed from this review also reinforces this government’s ongoing work to tackle Domestic Abuse and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) more broadly. We have already taken steps to tackle these crimes including funding £230 million for increased support for victims and survivors; introducing coercive and controlling behaviour as an offence in 2015; passing our landmark Domestic Abuse Act 2021; strengthening guidance on Domestic Abuse and publishing the ambitious Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy and Domestic Abuse plan. Having listened to stakeholders’ concerns and what they want to see in response, this report sets out a series of cross-government actions to address the following three themes: Leadership and accountability: we heard concerns about fragmented oversight and accountability of safeguarding in England which can result in an over-reliance on sector led improvement and missed learning opportunities. Effectiveness of the local response to abuse in the home: local responses to this form of abuse can be inconsistent and ineffective where frontline staff are not equipped with the right tools to understand its nature or navigate the complex legislative framework. Research, evidence and learning: relevant data is often held in disparate places across government departments and agencies. The limited research on this type of abuse poses a significant problem when it comes to understanding and tackling it effectively. We will continue to work with partners to ensure improvements are made and to progress the twenty-six actions from the review. Together, this set of actions will help us continue to protect and support people with care and support needs who are at risk of, or are being, abused in their own home by the person providing their care. A copy of the review report has been placed in the libraries of both Houses and published on GOV.UK.

Cabinet Office

Publication of the 2023 UK Biological Security Strategy

Oliver Dowden: The Government is today publishing the 2023 Biological Security Strategy. The Strategy sets out the Government’s ambition to ensure that by 2030 the UK is resilient to a spectrum of biological threats and a world leader in responsible innovation, making a positive impact on global health, economic and security outcomes.The new Strategy will equip us to respond to a spectrum of biological risks - improving our preparedness to future pandemics, but also hardening our defences to biological weapons and mitigating the risks of biological accidents and incidents. To overcome these threats, we must be proactive, collaborative and holistic in our approach.We will adopt a globally-facing, UK-wide posture that strengthens resilience and deterrence, projects global leadership, and exploits opportunities for UK prosperity and science and technology advantage. We will continue to work closely with industry, academia, the devolved administrations and our closest international partners to encourage responsible innovation while ensuring the UK is able to turbo-charge our thriving Life Sciences and Biotechnology sectors, stimulating growth, creating high-tech jobs, and attracting inward investment.The Strategy will prioritise national capabilities to shore up our current defences, learning and applying lessons from our experiences through COVID-19.Key commitments include:Developing a Biothreats Radar and National Biosurveillance Network to detect and monitor emerging biological threats to the UK;Establishing a new UK Biosecurity Leadership Council, bringing together academic and industry leaders to help establish the UK as a world leader in responsible innovation;Developing new UK-based microbial forensics tools and capabilities to support efforts to attribute biological incidents and deter the proliferation and use of biological weapons;Engaging with industry to further UK efforts to achieve the 100 Days Mission - reducing the impact of future pandemics by making vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics available within 100 days of a future outbreak;Formalising the leadership structures that oversee our biological security - including a lead minister who will report annually to Parliament;Establishing a Biological Security Task Force in the Cabinet Office to coordinate UK-wide efforts on biological security, including exercising our response to future threats.Copies of the Strategy are today being laid in Parliament.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Homes for Ukraine Scheme Update

Felicity Buchan: Over 120,000 Ukrainians have now arrived in the UK through the Homes for Ukraine scheme. The generosity of British families willing to open their homes to those seeking shelter has been extraordinary.Today, I am pleased to confirm the allocation of the £150 million UK-wide funding that will be made available to local authorities and devolved administrations in 2023/2024. This will ensure that Ukrainian guests can be supported to move into their own homes and reduce the risk of homelessness.The funding will be allocated across the UK in relation to the proportion of Ukrainian guests in each part of the UK. Devolved administrations will receive their share of the funding at Supplementary Estimates via Budget Cover Transfer.Funding will be allocated to all local authorities in England reflecting both Homes for Ukraine arrival numbers reported for each local authority and wider homelessness pressures. As a top-up to the existing Homelessness Prevention Grant, this grant is ringfenced to ensure local authorities are resourced to prevent homelessness. We expect funding will be prioritised for supporting our Ukrainian guests into sustainable accommodation, for example through access to the private rental sector, supporting employment access, and facilitating ongoing sponsorship into guests’ second year.Local authorities are best placed to understand the support needed for local communities and, within England, this funding may also be used to support other people at risk of homelessness in line with local pressures. The details of allocations to devolved administrations and local authorities have now been published on gov.uk.

Department for Education

School Inspection

Nick Gibb: The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), has today announced a number of changes to its inspection process in England.Ofsted will be clear that, following the completion of a school inspection, it is for the head teacher to decide which colleagues, or others, they share their provisional inspection outcome with, prior to the publication of the inspection report. As provisional outcomes can sometimes change these should not be published or shared with parents until finalised.From September, when discussing a school’s areas of weakness, inspection reports will normally refer to ‘the school’, rather than to individuals. Contextual information at the end of reports will list all those with responsibility for the school.Ofsted has today set out more information for schools on the broad timing of their next inspection. Schools will continue to receive one day’s notice of an inspection, but will now have more clarity about the year in which they are likely to be inspected. This will be of particular benefit to outstanding schools that were previously exempt from routine inspection.Inspectors will now return more quickly (within 3 months) to schools graded inadequate overall due to ineffective safeguarding, but where all other judgements were good or better. If a school has been able to resolve the safeguarding concerns it is likely to see its overall grade improve. The Secretary of State will then be able to decide whether to revoke any academy order applying to the school, or withdraw any warning notice issued to an academy Where inspectors are due to return to a school in these circumstances, the timeframe for the implementation of an academy order will allow for reinspection and for the Secretary of State to revoke the order where the grade improves.From September, Ofsted will provide schools with greater clarity about the threshold for what constitutes ineffective safeguarding through its inspection handbook and a range of other mechanisms. Inspectors will also describe ineffective safeguarding more clearly in inspection reports.Ofsted has today launched a formal consultation on changes to its complaints system.The Government is today confirming a significant expansion of its wellbeing support programme for school leaders. This will see a doubling of places available for this year, and will enable an additional 500 school leaders to access expert supervision and counselling.